Greens MP rails against Sydney light rail costs

BY GEORGIA CLARK

Greens MP Dr Mehreen Faruqi is calling for greater transparency of the Sydney light rail project, alleging the budget blow out has tainted the project’s reputation.

Her call comes after NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian was accused by the NSW Opposition party of misleading the public about the reasons for the overspend.

“The unnecessary chopping down of hundreds of trees without regard for the environment and the community, the unjustifiable route changes and the secrets and cover-ups regarding cost blowouts … has tarnished the reputation of what should be a fantastic mode of public transport.

“Any transport project this government touches blows out in cost and is shrouded in secrecy.

“If the Premier is serious about meeting the needs of the community then she needs to be honest and open about the mistakes made, and most importantly work with them,” she said.

Lord Mayor Clover Moore said the Sydney light rail project’s failure to deliver prompted a funding cut by the Council.

“It was our proposal in 2007 that became the basis for the State Government’s plans and at the time we committed $220 million to deliver the public domain elements of the project.

“We have been forced to withhold the last instalment of that contribution, due to the significant gap between what the State promised and what is being delivered,” she said.

Ms Moore says the project’s budget overspend has also cast doubt on the Government’s ability to deliver on public transport infrastructure.

“These problems do reflect broader concerns about the governance and oversight of the NSW Government’s major infrastructure projects, chief among them the $16.8 billion and counting WestConnex toll road.

“It is not too late to rethink the approach of these projects and get them right – doing so will go a long way to restoring the community’s faith in the Government’s ability to deliver major infrastructure projects,” she said.

A Transport for NSW spokesperson said sustainable public transport infrastructure like the Sydney light rail is critical to help the city cope with a population set to increase by 2.7 million by 2036.

“The CBD and South East Light Rail is a game-changing project, delivering more public transport capacity and better reliability for our congested city.

“This project will generate $3 billion in economic benefit for NSW,” they said.

According to public transport advocates, Ecotransit, the project cost was at least three times what any European government would pay for comparable work in a similar urban environment.

Gavin Gatenby of Ecotransit railed against the project since the budget blow out was uncovered.

“We believe the delivery has been outrageously overpriced and many aspects of it have been badly implemented.

“For example there’s quite unnecessary over-engineering and unnecessary and insensitive tree removal,” he said.

Mr Gatenby said the privatisation and excessive outsourcing of labour is almost corruption.

“Over the last 25 years governments have gutted their centres of expertise in the transport bureaucracy and relied on outside consultants.

“People who have no interest in keeping costs down and are in league with the construction companies in extracting as much from the public purse as they can for their own benefit.

“This is corruption in all but name,” he said.

Ms Faruqi said if the Government can deliver on its promises, public transport is still the best eco-friendly transport alternative, according to Dr Faruqi.

“Investing in public and active transport is the way to tackle pollution, traffic congestion and providing commuters efficient and effective means of travel… [but] the issues of poor planning, no transparency and privatisation risk ruining much-needed world-class public transport systems,” she said.

A Transport for NSW spokesperson said the project will deliver a sustainable public transport alternative and reduce pollution from excessive car use.

“Light rail is an environmentally-focused mode of transport that will reduce greenhouse gases and noise pollution to provide clean, efficient travel… Light rail uses 10 times less energy than a car, per passenger kilometre,” they said.

A Grattan Institute report released late last year revealed the Australian government spent $28 billion more on transport infrastructure on the past 15 years than they told taxpayers they would spend.